Pokémon: The End of the Story
by Nintendo Maximus
Summary: A month after his victory against MechaMew2, Ash prepares for the battle that will make him the Pokémon Master!
1. One Battle Left?

**Disclaimer:** Once again, I don't own Pokémon. Nintendo does. I don't own the songs either.

**Author's Note:** This fanfic shows how I think the series finale for Pokémon Anime will go. Of course, that may be a bit of a problem, because this fic is also the sequel to my Pokémon Live! adaptation. But I managed to fix that adaptation to fit the original storyline, so, anyway, here's the sequel, and my idea for the finale of the Pokémon Anime!

* * *

**Today, we join our heroes, Ash and Pikachu, as they fight for the very title that they have been journeying years for - the Greatest Pokémon Master of all time!**

Ash Ketchum couldn't believe how good things had been going for him. Just a month ago, he and his prized Pikachu had, with the help of the 150th Pokémon, Mewtwo, defeated the evil Giovanni and his mechanical marvel, the MechaMew2. After that battle, he had kept his promise to make it up to Misty Waterflower for forgetting her birthday by giving her the Diamond Badge that he had won from beating Giovanni. He had also confessed his undying love for her, and found out she loved him the same way.  
Now, here he was, at the Indigo Plateau, winning the last battle he'd have to fight before becoming a Pokémon Master - against Lance, the leader of the Elite Four. All of Ash's friends were there in the bleachers, cheering him on. Even Jessie and James, two former members of Team Rocket, and their coworker, Meowth, were there. Giovanni had fired them shortly before his battle with Ash, so they had defected to the good guys.  
Ash could still remember the battles prior to this one. He had fought against the four trainers that Lance was the champion of: Will, whose team was all dual types that included the Psychic type; Koga, the former Gym Leader of Fuschia City; Bruno, who used mostly Fighting-type Pokémon; and Karen, who had a rather dark personality, like her Pokémon. They were all using Level-40 to Level-50 Pokemon, and they weren't exactly pushovers. But Ash's Pokémon were in the same ballpark, so he managed to beat all four of them. And now, his Pikachu was whupping up on Lance's Level-50 Dragonite. That seemed very difficult, and pretty much hard to believe, but when you gave your Pokémon as much love as Ash did, you'd be a real winner.  
Eventually, after a long hard battle, the mighty Dragonite was down. Lance recalled it, rather upset by his loss.  
"Eeeeeeeyes!" Ash shouted, as his platform lowered and Pikachu ran up to him. "We beat the Elite Four! I'm a Pokémon Master - the winner!"  
"That's it!" Lance cried. "I hate to admit it, but you _are_ a Pokémon Master!" Lance stepped down from his platform and went to congratulate Ash. "I still can't believe my dragons lost to you, Ash! You are now the Pokémon League Champion!"  
"Ha hah!" Ash laughed happily. "I knew if we tried our hardest, we could do it! After all, we won the Diamond Badge, and now we've won the title of Pokémon Master!"  
"Or, at least, you would have been," Lance continued. This statement brought a shock to Ash and his supporters. "But you have one more challenge ahead. You have to face another trainer! He beat the Elite Four before you! He is the _real _Pokémon League Champion!"  
"Well, he won't be for long!" Ash said, still determined to win. "Pikachu and I will kick this turkey's butt easily! Uh, what's his name?"  
"I'm not telling," Lance said. "You'll have to find out for yourself!"  
"All right!" Ash agreed. "It's a deal! Tomorrow, we fight the current Champion for the title of Pokémon Master!"

**Soon...**

Ash was in the dugout with his friends. They were all giving him their comments on his victory.  
"Oh Ash, you won!" Misty said sweetly, showering his face with kisses.  
"That victory rocked!" commented Brock Slate, giving Ash the thumbs-up.  
"It was picture perfect!" added Tracey Sketchit, as he was drawing a detailed picture of Ash's victory pose.  
"Hey, thanks, guys," Ash said, wiping the light pink stains of Misty's lipstick off his face. "But even though I've beaten the Elite Four in battle, it isn't over yet. Remember, I've still got to face whoever it was beat me here. I'll catch you guys later. Get it? Catch? Come on, Pikachu. We're gonna go train for the final battle." With that, Ash got up and Pikachu followed him as they went out to start training. "Hee hee, catch you guys later. That's a good one, but maybe not..."  
Right after Ash and Pikachu had left, Misty had a very dreamy look on her face. "Ahh, I always dreamed I would marry Ash someday, and now I know it will come true!" She could already imagine her wedding day with Ash.  
In Misty's dream, she was wearing a beautiful white gown, her hair was down, and a clear white veil fell over her face. Ash, looking his handsomest in a white tuxedo, a red rose in his tuxedo pocket, stood across from her smiling his gentle smile, and looking deep into her eyes. He took her white-gloved hand onto his and slipped a blue sapphire wedding ring onto her finger. As the preacher declared them husband and wife, Ash lifted up Misty's veil and they came together for their first kiss as Mr. and Mrs. Ashton Ketchum.  
Tracey looked at how starry-eyed Misty looked. "Judging from how she looks, I'd say she's daydreaming of marrying Ash," Tracey said, stating the obvious.  
"I could see that," Brock declared.

_Doesn't take much to make me happy  
and make me smile   
Never never will I feel discouraged  
Cause our love's no mystery_

_Demonstrating love and affection  
That you give so openly yeah  
I like the way ya make me about you baby  
Want the whole wide world to see_

_Whoa whoa, you got the best of my love  
Whoa whoa, you got the best of my love  
Whoa whoa, you got the best of my love  
Whoa whoa, you've got the best of my love_

_Goin' in and out of changes  
The kind that come around each day  
My life has a better meaning  
Love has kissed me in a beautiful way_

_And oh yea (my love, my love)  
oh yea (my love, my love)_

_oh you got the best of my love  
Whoa whoa, you've got the best of my love  
Whoa whoa, you've got the best of my love  
Whoa whoa, you've got the best of my love_

_Demonstrating sweet love and affection  
That you give so openly yeah  
The way I feel about ya baby can't explain it  
Want the whole wide world to see_

_Ohhh but in my heart  
You're all I need  
You for me and me for you  
ohhh, it's growin' every day  
ooooh_

_ohhh, oh oh oh oh oh  
you've got the best of my love  
ohhh, oh oh oh oh oh  
you've got the best of my love  
ohhh, givin' you the best of my love  
my love ohh my love  
ohhh, givin' you the best of my love  
my love ohh oh yeah  
ohhh, oh oh oh oh oh  
you've got the best of my love_

**Outside the Indigo Plateau, the former Team Rocket trio chows down their first real lunch in years.**

Outside, the three ex-members of Team Rocket were chowing down on the elusive lunch they had hardly ever gotten a bite out of during their careers under Giovanni's rule.  
"Boy, it's really wonderful to be back in civilzation an' havin' lunch again!" Meowth said between munches. "Da Boss _never _gave us any lunch breaks!"  
"Yeah!" Jessie said in agreement. "But now that he's dead, we can do whatever we want!"  
"Uh-huh!" James agreed gladly. "Being a member of Team Rocket made me miss the good old days when we were in the bike gang!"  
"Well, we may not be part of the gang anymore, but at least it looks like we're not blasting off again anymore!" Jessie said.  
"Amen to that!" James expressed.  
At that point, they heard a familiar voice behind them. "Hey guys!"  
The trio of ex-Rockets turned their heads and found who called to them. It was none other than an old friend of theirs during their days in Team Rocket: Mondo, the Class B Team Rocket apprentice who had gotten Jessie and James out of their various predicaments.  
"Mondo!" Meowth said. "What brings youse here? Were you fired from Team Rocket too?"  
"Well, not exactly," Mondo explained to his idols. "When I found out that The Boss had fired you, I feared that as long as I was a part of Team Rocket, I'd never be able to spend time with you again. So I decided to quit my job, just so I could be with you guys again. But when I got to the Rocket Hideout, I found that The Boss looked as if he had been done over by the Chicago Bears! I figured that if he was dead, he would never know that I quit, so I hung up my Team Rocket uniform and left to meet with you guys again." By now Mondo was sitting down with his friends, watching as they ate their food. "But I see I may not be needed anymore when it comes to your need for food."  
"Oh, you can come and help us anytime you want," James said, a chicken leg in his mouth. "Since we're good guys now, you can still get us out of any problems we have."  
"Ah," Mondo said, glad to be with Jessie and James again. "Thanks."  
Meowth sat down on Mondo's lap. "I'm just glad Da Boss never had any chance of knowin' dat we've defected to da good guys' side."  
"He does now," an angry and familiar-sounding voice came from behind them.  
The four ex-Rockets turned their heads and screamed in horror. For what they saw meant trouble for them. _Big_ trouble.


	2. The Return of Giovanni

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything here. Not even the song. Which is "Bad", by Michael Jackson.

* * *

**That night...**

For hours Ash had been training all of his Pokémon for the big match that was to be held the next day. By now, they were all in prime shape. Pikachu sparked the spark of a finishing blow.  
"Okay, I believe that's enough training for the night," Ash declared as he turned off the training music. With that, he recalled all his Pokémon back into their PokéBalls, except of course for Pikachu. The electric mouse didn't like PokéBalls anyway. "We're gonna clean the floor with this Champion tomorrow, Pikachu," Ash told his favorite Pokémon. "But for now, we're gonna go get to sleep."  
The two of them were about to start heading for the nearby hotel to spend the night when they suddenly heard something rustling in the bushes.  
"Huh?" Ash was surprised to know that someone was up this late and not training for a big battle. "Who could that be?" he wondered. He and Pikachu walked up to the bush where the rustling was coming from. Something strange was definitely going on. "All right, whoever you are!" Ash called to the something in the bushes. "Come out of there and show yourself!"  
"I wouldn't have said that if I were you, you twerpish rat!" A familiar feminine voice called from the bushes.  
Then a masculine frog-sounding voice rang out. "Since you've found us, you'd better..."  
"...Prepare for trouble and make it double!" Both mysterious voices shouted, in unison.  
"To inflict the world with devastation!" said the first voice.  
"To bright all peoples within every nation!" said the second voice.  
"To denounce the goodness of truth and love!"  
"To extend our wrath to the stars above!"  
"_Cassidy!_"  
"_Buuuutch!_"  
The two Class A members of Team Rocket revealed themselves and jumped out of the bushes.  
"We're Team Rocket, circling Earth all day and night!" Cassidy proclaimed.  
"Surrender to us now or you'll surely lose the fight-fight-fight!" Butch demanded.  
Their Raticate jumped out in front. "Rati-cate!" it snapped.  
"Oh, puh-leeze, not you guys again!" Ash groaned. "This is getting real old!"  
"That's what you think!" Butch said, pointing his index finger up.  
"The tables have turned, rat!" Cassidy yelled. "You've attempted to foil our schemes for the last time!"  
"'Attempted'? You two have to be kidding!" Ash pointed out. "You've been thrown in jail every time we cross paths. I'm 4 and 0."  
"Heh heh, I can see our reputation is preceding us," Butch said.  
"Well, you were just lucky in our previous encounters!" Cassidy bragged. "This time, we're gonna _creeeeeam_ you!"  
"Sheeeesh," Ash complained. "How many times can you two wind up behind bars without giving up?!"  
"Lots of times, we'll tell you that!" Cassidy boasted. "Our Boss has always come to bail us out every time we get sent to the slammer!"  
"Yeah? Well, I bet he won't _this_ time!" Ash said, taking out one of his PokéBalls and throwing it. "Chikorita, I choose you!"   
On command, Chikorita came out of her PokéBall. "_Chika!_" she let out her battle cry.  
Ash gave the Grass-type Pokémon the attack command. "Chikorita, tie them up with your Vine Whip!"  
Chikorita shot out his vines, and used it to tie up Butch and Cassidy.  
"Great job, Chikorita!" Ash complimented. "Keep them bound while I go call the police."  
Suddenly, an ominous voice sounded from nowhere in Ash's visual distance. "No one's going _anywhere_."  
Ash looked freaked out. "That voice! It can't be..." As if on cue, the mysterious person revealed himself. Ash couldn't believe it. "_GIOVANNI!!!_" This came as a big shock, since the last time he saw Giovanni, he had been hit by a super-effective Selfdestruct from the MechaMew2. This shock was such a shock, that Chikorita's Vine Whip loosened from Butch and Cassidy, setting them free. "How did...?"  
"I am not so easily beaten, _son!_" Giovanni gloated to the trainer, accompanied by his Persian. "In fact, my power is growing again! A child like you would never understand what I hoped to achieve. You may have destroyed the MechaMew2, but I have other, shall we say, tools!"  
"You're mad!" Ash shouted at his ex-dad. "Pikachu and I defeated you before! And if we did it once, we can do it again!"  
"_SHUT UP!_" Giovanni screamed, pointing his right index finger at Ash's face. "You are a fool and you will pay a fool's price! I will not rest until you and everyone else who has humiliated me have reaped their just rewards! Don't you know my story? I'll show you..."  
"Oh great," Ash moaned to his Pokémon. "Now he wants to torture us with his backstory!"  
"I'll ignore that little remark, thank you!" Giovanni said, as he began his story. "My mother was a beautiful woman who started up an organization she named Team Rocket. When I was becoming a teenager, she told me that one day, I'd be the leader of her establishment. So, each day, I headed up several kids my age and practiced for my reign as the leader of Team Rocket. During which, I met your mother! I knew, however, that my days as Boss Rocket wouldn't last forever. So, I married your mother without explaining my true intentions for our children!"  
"But she caught you teaching me to be like you and divorced from you!" Ash interrupted.  
"Ah, but I wasn't going to give up there!" Giovanni continued. "I set up base in the Viridian Gym, offering the Earth Badge to all challengers. But that wasn't enough for me. I wanted the world's most powerful Pokémon, so I commisioned my scientists to genetically engineer a super-clone of the rarest Pokémon ever, Mew. Thus, Mewtwo was created, and I reasoned that Team Rocket could help the creature his newfound strength. I used him to capture Pokémon for Team Rocket and defeat challengers in my Gym. But after a while or so, he was not content to do Team Rocket's bidding and escaped!  
"I sought to regain control over that Psychic Pokémon. Enlisting the help of my Agent 009, Domino, I located Mewtwo's whereabouts in Purity Canyon, and sent the Team Rocket Attack Squad to capture Mewtwo and his cloned friends. I had built a new device that would contain his energy and sap his will, until I was in complete control of the creature once again. That was when I met you for the first time since your mother divorced from me. You and your friends defeated my evil plans and saved Mewtwo. My memory of Mewtwo was erased for good that time. But it wouldn't remain that way for long...  
"One of my Rocket Grunts reported to me that he had overheard Jessie and James mentioning some super-Pokémon named Mewtwo. I had that Rocket Grunt bring Jessie and James forth to me, and out of better judgement, they told me all about Mewtwo. But instead of pounding them into the ground, I decided I wasn't giving up on my goal to own the world's most powerful Pokémon. So after a few weeks, all by myself, I had built the MechaMew2, the mechanical marvel that learned and returned every Pokémon attack! To insure that MechaMew2 would learn every type of attack, I offered the one-of-a-kind Diamond Badge as a reward for defeating me. Soon, my beautiful MechaMew2 had every Pokémon technique in the Pokédex, except for Thundershock and Thunderbolt, which your Pikachu possessed. Even though I was certain they were going to fail, I sent those two bumbleheads, Jessie and James, to steal it from you, while I captured the all-knowing Professor Oak so that he wouldn't interfere with my scheme. Much to my surprise, Jessie and James actually succeeded in bringing me your Pikachu, but I soon found out it was useless without you to command it. That's why I sent Jessie and James to bring you to my hideout - so you could have Pikachu feed its attacks to MechaMew2! Victory was mine! But then the original Mewtwo came back into my life and took your love and caring to turn MechaMew2 against me and try to destroy me! Now that my masterpiece is destroyed, I will destroy the destroyers!"  
Ash wasn't going to let Giovanni get away with that. He stood up to the leader of Team Rocket and shouted, "We won't let you destroy us! We have a battle to win tomorrow!"  
Giovanni taunted his ex-son. "Perhaps! But you will not live to see that battle!"  
"Bring it on, daddio!" Ash shouted. With that, the fight began.  
Butch and Cassidy got behind Giovanni to provide support. "Knock 'im dead, Boss!" Butch said.

_Your Butt Is Mine, Gonna Take You Right  
Just Show Your Face In Broad Daylight  
I'm Telling You On How I Feel  
Gonna Hurt Your Mind, Don't Shoot To Kill  
(Come On, Come On,) Lay It On Me, All Right..._

_I'm Giving You On Count Of Three  
To Show Your Stuff Or Let It Be...  
I'm Telling You, Just Watch Your Mouth  
I Know Your Game, What You're About_

_Well They Say The Sky's The Limit  
And To Me That's Really True  
But My Friend You Have Seen Nothing  
Just Wait 'Til I Get Through..._

_Because I'm Bad, I'm Bad- Come On  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
You Know I'm Bad, I'm Bad- You Know It  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
You Know I'm Bad, I'm Bad- Come On, You Know  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
And The Whole World Has To Answer Right Now  
Just To Tell You Once Again, Who's Bad..._

_The Word Is Out, You're Doin' Wrong  
Gonna Lock You Up Before Too Long,  
Your Lyin' Eyes, Gonna Take You Right  
So Listen Up, Don't Make A Fight,  
Your Talk Is Cheap, You're Not A Man  
You're Throwin' Stones To Hide Your Hands_

_But They Say The Sky's The Limit  
And To Me That's Really True  
And My Friends You Have Seen Nothin'  
Just Wait 'Til I Get Through..._

_Because I'm Bad, I'm Bad- Come On  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
You Know I'm Bad, I'm Bad- You Know It  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
You Know I'm Bad, I'm Bad- You Know It, You Know  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
And The Whole World Has To Answer Right Now  
(And The Whole World Has To Answer Right Now)  
Just To Tell You Once Again,   
(Just To Tell You Once Again)  
Who's Bad..._

_We Can Change The World Tomorrow  
This Could Be A Better Place  
If You Don't Like What I'm Sayin'  
Then Won't You Slap My Face..._

_Because I'm Bad, I'm Bad- Come On  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
You Know I'm Bad, I'm Bad- You Know It  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
You Know I'm Bad, I'm Bad- You Know It, You Know  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
Woo! Woo! Woo! (And The Whole World Has To Answer Right Now  
Just To Tell You Once Again...)_

_You Know I'm Bad, I'm Bad- Come On  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
You Know I'm Bad, I'm Bad- You Know It-You Know It  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
You Know, You Know, You Know, Come On  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
And The Whole World Has To Answer Right Now  
(And The Whole World Has To Answer Right Now)  
Just To Tell You  
(Just To Tell You Once Again)_

_You Know I'm Smooth, I'm Bad, You Know It  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
You Know I'm Bad, I'm Bad Baby  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
You Know, You Know, You Know It, Come On  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
And The Whole World Has To Answer Right Now  
(And The Whole World Has To Answer Right Now)  
Woo! (Just To Tell You Once Again)_

_You Know I'm Bad, I'm Bad- You Know It  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
You Know I'm Bad-You Know-Hoo!  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
You Know I'm Bad-I'm Bad- You Know It, You Know  
(Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)  
And The Whole World Has To Answer Right Now  
(And The Whole World Has To Answer Right Now)  
Just To Tell You Once Again...  
(Just To Tell You Once Again...)  
Who's Bad?_

Ash had to defeat this evil gangster's strongest Pokémon, including a Level-40 Rhyhorn, a Level-43 Nidoqueen, a Level-45 Nidoking, and a Level-50 Rhydon. But like I said before, Ash cared a lot for his Pokémon, and like with the MechaMew2, Ash's love and caring gave his Pokémon enough agility to defeat Giovanni's Pokémon.  
"It appears I've misjudged your abilities, boy," Giovanni said as he recalled his Rhydon. "It appears I may need to send out a Pokémon powerful than my others. I never thought I'd do this, but it seems I needs its help. My lap pet, Persian, will make short work and you and your electric rodent! Persian, slice them to bits."  
Giovanni's Level-53 Persian wasn't an ordinary evil villain's lap pet. It was 71 pounds of pure evil standing at three feet and three inches. Its Fury Swipes were like a hot knife through butter. But Pikachu was not going to let these nasty, pointy claws defeat him. He was soon to find he wasn't alone on that...  
"HA HA!" Giovanni laughed, just when it looked like Persian was going to win. "Don't you see? You can never defeat me as long as I am determined to destroy you! My MechaMew2 would've had all of you at my feet if it weren't for _you_ miserable little meddlers!"  
"Maybe not, but we can defeat you as a team!" a familiar voice sounded behind Giovanni.  
"Huh?" Giovanni turned around to see who was calling to him. Ash was also getting pretty tired of hearing mysterious yet familiar voices come from behind him. The callers turned out to be none other than Jessie and James!  
"To save the world from devastation!"  
"To unite all good guys within our nation!"  
"To fight for the goodness of truth and love!"  
"To defeat villains who hit us from above!"  
"_Jessie!_"  
"_James!_"  
"Team Ex-Rocket does goodness at the speed of light!" Mondo got in front of them. "Surrender now or we'll knock out your bite!"  
"_Meowth!_ Dat's right!" Meowth chimed in, jumping down from a tree.  
"You four quitters again!" Giovanni snarled, really angry. "I thought I had tied you pieces of riffraff to that tree!"  
"That's what you thought, ex-Boss!" Meowth said, outstretching his right claw. "You don't t'ink I only use dese claws for attacks, do youse?!"  
Just then, Butch and Cassidy got in front of Jessie and James. "Sheesh!" Cassidy scoffed. "The four of you still get the motto wrong even after being fired!"  
"Oh, look," James said in a teasing tone. "It appears the gang is all here! Our former Boss has even brought Cassidy and _Botch_! How's it goin', _Buzz_?"  
Butch reeled in anger. "Urgh! The name's _Butch_! B-U-T-C-H! Not Botch! I've had it with you putting an 'O' in place of the 'U' in my name! And that's going to stop, John!"  
"Oh!" James shrieked. "You did that again on purpose!"  
Butch, Cassidy, Jessie, and James argued for quite a while, and everyone else watched them. Finally, Giovanni decided he'd had enough of it and shouted in a loud, commanding voice: "_SHUUUUUUUUUUT UUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!_" All the Rockets and ex-Rockets stopped arguing and turned to face their angry leader as he gave his speech. "I've had it with all of you arguing like one of you had wrecked another one's bike!" He turned to Meowth, Jessie, James, and Mondo. "I'm sick of you Active-Duty Underlings! You never succeed in capturing any Pokémon!" Then he faced Butch and Cassidy. "And you! You two Active-Duty Elites! I've had to bail you out of jail too many times! It appears none of you will ever be worth anything in Team Rocket! At least Domino, Dr. Namba, Bashou, Buson, Shiranui, Tatsumi, and the Grunts have worth, even if they've failed in their schemes! But now I take the pleasure of saying that _YOU'RE ALL_ _FIRED!!_"  
Butch and Cassidy fell down to their knees. "That's not fair!" Butch cried. "Jessie and James were actually able to complete a mission for you before you fired them!"  
"Stop your whining," Giovanni said, unmoved. "I had fired Jessie and James because I had no further need of them. You two are being fired because you haven't been able to accomplish anything you've tried to do for me! The breeding center scam... hypnotizing all the Pokémon on Mandarin Island... selling phony fortune-telling books to unsuspecting trainers... trying to capture a baby Lugia and its mother... And none of those schemes have worked! Of course I have rights to fire you!" With that, Giovanni stripped the red "R"s off of Butch and Cassidy's uniforms. He then turned and faced Ash once more. "Now then, where were we, boy?"  
"I believe we were at the part where Pikachu and I defeat you!" Ash answered.  
Giovanni sneered. "That part will not occur, you sad excuse for a future crime organizer! You must never forget that all Pokémon exist for the glory of Team Rocket!" Just as Giovanni had finished saying this, however, he felt a hand clap him on his left shoulder. He turned around and gasped in shock and alarm. It was Officer Jenny!  
"So you're the leader of Team Rocket!" Jenny declared, slapping handcuffs onto Giovanni's hands. "You're under arrest for countless attempts at world domination!"  
"Like I told you, ex-father," Ash said, "we were at the part where Pikachu and I defeat you! We called the police while you were firing your minions."  
Jenny took Giovanni and threw him and his Persian into her paddy wagon. Giovanni pleaded to his underlings. "Butch! Cassidy! Get me out of this! I've bailed you out of jail before, so you should do the same for me."  
"I'm sorry, we won't be able to do that," Cassidy stated.  
"You fired us, remember?" Butch added.  
"You traitors!" Giovanni insulted them, as the paddy wagon drove away. He pounded his Persian on the head. "I would've gotten away with this if it weren't for that meddling son of mine!"  
Ash turned to Pikachu and clapped his little hand. "That was a great victory, Pikachu!" They looked ahead. "But now, we'd better go back to the hotel and get some sleep. Tomorrow, we'll be competing in a battle even bigger than this one." So, he and Pikachu started walking to the hotel they were staying at for the night. Ash looked back and saw all the ex-members of Team Rocket behind him. Meowth, Jessie, James, Mondo, Butch, and Cassidy all looked like they needed some help. So he walked up to them and asked "You all want a place to stay?"

Ash's friends were already asleep by the time Ash had gotten the ex-Rockets to the hotel. Ash was going to let them sleep in the room next to his for the night. He figured they'd need it, for they wouldn't have their own places to call home for a few years. So after Ash left all the ex-Rockets in their room, he and Pikachu went to their own room. Ash changed into his pajamas, got into the bed Misty was sleeping in, and drifted off to sleep.


	3. The Final Battle

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story. I don't even own the songs, which are "Shakedown" by Bob Seger, and "Sweet Victory" from the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Band Geeks".

* * *

The sun beat its bright rays down on Ash's face as it rose. His eyes blinked open and he turned to see Misty sleeping with her arms embracing him. Ash knew that he wanted to spend the whole day with Misty's arms around him, but he knew that he couldn't do that. He had a battle to win. And he wanted his friends to be there to see him win it, too. He had been training for that battle, and now the day of that battle was there.  
He gently kissed Misty on the lips, and as their lips parted, her eyelids fluttered open. She focused her aquamarine eyes on her beloved Pokémon trainer.  
"Oh," she said, waking up, "good morning, Ashy-washy..." She got up out of the bed. "I take it today's the day of the big battle?"  
"You bet," Ash said, rubbing Pikachu awake. "Today will be a day that will go down in history. The day when I achieve the dream I've hoped for. The dream I set out to achieve the same day that you fished me out of that river on Route 1."  
"I'll be there to watch you obtain that dream," Misty said with a wink as she went to go take a shower. "I wish you good luck."  
"I don't need luck, I have skill," Ash said as he and Pikachu went up to the door. "And I'll be looking forward to my victory kiss!" He gave his lovely and cute girlfriend a thumbs-up and a wink.  
Misty's cheeks blushed beet red for a moment from her boyfriend's compliment. "Hey, where are you going?" she asked as she saw him heading out the door.  
"To visit some friends of mine in the next room," Ash answered. "Wake up Brock and Tracey for me, will you?"  
Ash and Pikachu walked out of their room and over to the room next to theirs. They were in for a very big surprise. To their astonishment, all six former members of Team Rocket seemed to be missing. Ash called for them. "Meowth? Jessie? James? Anybody in here?"  
He then noticed a note. It said, "Prepare for our support, and make it double, at the stadium. Signed, Team Ex-Rocket."  
"Well," Ash said to Pikachu, "there's a pleasant thought for the day. I gotta tell you, they always have to find some excuse to say 'prepare' and 'make it double'."  
Just then, Misty, Brock, and Tracey came into the room. "Hey Ash!" Brock called. "What are you doing in this room?"  
Ash turned around. "Oh, hey guys." He noticed that Misty looked rather pretty today, even though she was wearing the same clothes that she always wore every day. What obviously made her seem so pretty today was probably the necklace that she was wearing. This necklace was made with the Diamond Badge that Ash had given to Misty as her late birthday present a month back. Ash stared at his sweetheart, taken in by her beauty. Their relationship had jumped by leaps and bounds ever since Ash won the Diamond Badge, and that's how it was going to go from then on.  
As Ash had his hearts set on Misty, Brock looked at the note that the ex-Rockets had left.  
"'Prepare for our support, and make it double, at the stadium'," Brock read the note. "Ash, what's up with Jessie and James? Ever since you won that Diamond Badge and told Misty that you loved her last month, those two and their cat have been acting like they never meant us any harm. I haven't even heard them call us 'twerps' since then!"  
"I guess the guy who wrote 'Everything Changes' wasn't kidding," Tracey added.  
Ash stopped looking at Misty and answered question that Brock had been asking. "I've got some news for you guys. Not only has Team Ex-Rocket been sleeping here, but they had Team Rocket 2 with them!"  
"Team Rocket 2?" Tracey asked.  
"You mean the two superior Rocket Elites with the Raticate?" Misty asked.  
"I don't understand that," Brock said.  
"Well, I'll explain on the way to the stadium," Ash said, opening the door for Misty to leave the room.

"The leader of Team Rocket was here last night?" Tracey exclaimed as the four of them were entering the stadium.  
"But I thought he was dead!" Brock exclaimed, even more surprised by Ash's explanation on his encounter with Giovanni the previous night.  
"Don't worry," Ash assured his three traveling companions. "Pikachu and I called the police, so we don't have to worry about him anymore. The Boss Rocket is now the Convict Rocket. Giovanni won't be able to cause any problems from his prison cell. I guess we can say that Team Rocket is now officially disbanded."  
But what Ash didn't know was that even with the arrest of The Boss, Team Rocket wasn't quite dead just yet. The Executives at the Team Rocket Hideout in Mahogany City had heard that their Boss had been apprehended. But the Rocket Executives weren't going to let Team Rocket die like that. The Rocket Executives took their place behind Giovanni's desk, in order to keep the evil organization alive. I could probably go on to explain more about the Executives taking control of their Boss's company, but I'd be digressing away from Ash's final battle, so let's just get back to the story.  
Ash watched as the big metal doors standing between his group and the battlefield opened automatically. As he and his pals walked through the platinum battlefield, the crowd cheered immensely, and the announcer shouted out his monologue.  
"Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaadieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesss and gentlemen, here he is - the challenger from Pallet Town, the newest braver for the title of Pokémon League Champion... _AAAAAAAAAASSHH KETCHUMMMMMM!!!!!_"  
"YAAAAAY!!!" The crowd cheered really, really, really loud, and applauded really, really, really, really, really hard. The six former Team Rocket members, Meowth, Jessie, James, Mondo, Butch, and Cassidy, were among them.  
"Well, _this_ is a warm welcome," Ash said to himself. He had fought through the Indigo League Championships before, and although he hadn't made it past the semifinals the last time, he had learned a valuable lesson from that defeat. And because of that, he had now made it to the finals of the new competition.  
"And now, here's our current champion..." As the announcer continued, the champion came out from a long corridor on the other side of the arena. Ash and his friends had a feeling that they had seen this nappy-haired teenager before, but they'd soon know who he was, because the announcer was going on with his announcing. "...the present Pokémon Master... _GARRRRRRYYYYYYY OOOOAKK!!!_"  
"GARY?!!" Ash, Misty, Brock, and Tracey all said, in unison.  
"Gary's the current Pokémon Master?!" Ash said after all four of them said the name.  
"_Boo!_" Nearly the whole audience hissed.  
"Hooray!" a single person in the stands cheered. Everyone else in the bleachers threw whatever they could throw at him.  
Ash's selfish and egotistical rival, Gary Oak, came out from the other side of the stadium, accompanied by his six ugly cheerleaders.  
"Gary, Gary, he's our man! He can do it, no one can!" The six girls chanted, swishing their pom-poms.  
"Who are those girls?" Tracey pointed his pencil at the cheerleaders. "I don't believe I've met them before."  
"You'd be sorry for not having met them," Brock said, going nuts for the six unattractive girls, which just went to show how dumb he could be. "Where have you been, you six lovelies? I haven't seen you since Gary's last attempt here."  
"Hey! I was looking forward to seeing you, Ash!" Gary taunted Ash, not paying attention to what was going on with his girls. "My rival should be strong to keep me sharp! While working on my Pokédex, I looked all over for powerful Pokémon! Not only that, I assembled teams that would beat any Pokémon type! And now, I'm the Pokémon League champion! Do you know what that means?" He was about to say what it meant when he happened to take notice of the accessory on Misty's neck. "Hey! What is that thing on your girlfriend's neck?!"  
"It's a necklace, Gary," an annoyed Ash answered. "I can't believe you don't even know the name of the thing that _you_ happen to wear on your own neck!" He was of course referring to Gary's necklace with the hippie medallion.  
"Don't play games with me!" Gary shouted, walking up to the four friends. "I know that she's wearing a necklace! What I meant is, what is that accessory on your girlfriend's necklace?? I feel as though as I've seen it somewhere before..."  
"Oh, that." Ash pointed to the most beautiful part of Misty's necklace. "It's the Diamond Badge."  
Gary put his right hand on the spikes of his hair. "The Diamond Badge?! You won the Diamond Badge?! You have got to be kidding me! That mysterious Gym Leader's MechaMew2 cleaned the Poke-clocks of all of its challengers! Even _I_ couldn't win that badge! Losing at the Gym felt exactly like when I lost to the Gym Leader and _his_ Super-Pokemon at the Viridian City Gym! It was almost as if the Viridian Gym Leader and the mysterious Gym Leader with the MechaMew2 were one and the same! And you're the loser here, and you come in and tell me that you won something that _I_ couldn't win!?" He clenched his head and took deep breaths. "Well, no matter. You may have won the Diamond Badge, but that doesn't affect my League status whatsoever. _I'm_ the Pokémon League champion! You know what that means? I'll tell you! I am the most powerful Pokémon trainer in the world!!!"  
Gary was putting up a good performance on his speech, but Ash wasn't fazed either. "The last time we fought, you had improved your relationships with your Pokémon, ditched your cheerleaders and your convertible, dropped your snobby personality, and were acting more like the friend I used to have. Whatever happened to your cheerleaders, and why have you gone back to the nasty personality you had during the Road to Indigo?"  
"Heh heh heh hah hah!" Gary cackled. "I've always been the snob I was in the Indigo League. I never improved my relationships! I never ditched my girls or my car! I never really acted like your old friend! And I never in a million years dropped my snobbyness! And all those rumors about me telling my girls to go separate ways become good trainers was fake, not to mention out of my character! I'm still the same nasty Gary who pushed and put you down the day both of our separate journeys began! The old Gary Oak who was once your friend is no more!"  
In the audience, Ex-Team Rocket heard all of Gary's speech.  
"Geez, he's even worse than us," Butch said.  
"Gary, think of all the fun we had as childhood friends!" Ash reasoned. "Surely, there's a little bit of your old not-so-mean personality still in you!"  
"Maybe so," Gary contradicted the same-aged, same-heighted, black-haired boy with the Z squiggles on his cheeks, "but I haven't found it yet! What do you say to that, girls?"  
But Gary's cheerleaders hadn't heard him say that. Brock was trying to get ways to contact them. And not doing a very good job, I might add.  
"Get out of here, you seeing-nothing bum!" one of the cheerleaders shouted as she smacked her pom-pom on Brock's vest.  
Gary turned to face his competitor. "I don't know how you guys can put up with Mr. Eyeless Womanizer there."  
"Me neither," Ash said.  
Misty and Tracey nodded in agreement.  
"But anyway, I challenge you for the title of Pokémon League champion!" Ash challenged.  
"Fine then," Gary agreed. "And to raise the stakes a little, if I win, which I'm sure I will, I get something of yours."  
"What?"  
Gary pointed his finger at Misty.  
The tomboyish redhead gasped in horror.  
Then Ash got mad. He growled and pointed his right index finger on the nose of his rival. "YOU CREEP!" he roared. "IF YOU WANT MISTY, YOU'LL HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME FIRST!"  
"I wasn't indicating _her,_ loser breath," Gary specified. "I was indicating the Diamond Badge."  
Misty breathed a sigh of relief.  
"Oh," Ash calmed down. "That's good."  
"But since you were so nice as to suggest it," Gary continued, "I think I'll include your girl as my prize as well! Ash! If I win, your woman becomes one of my cheerleaders and my own personal pleasure, not to mention I get the Diamond Badge."  
"No way, Gary!" Ash shouted back.  
Misty gasped in horror again. She took out her mallet and tried to smash Gary with it. "I refuse to go with being a cheerleader for _you_, Mr. Stuck-Up! It's a terrible idea! I've heard stories about what you do with them."  
Gary turned toward his cheerleaders, but kept his eyes on Misty. "I guess I'm just too sexy my own good." He turned to Ash again. "But anyway, you lose, I get your Badge and your girl. I lose, she stays with you, and you keep the Badge."  
"No more fooling around!" Ash shouted. "Let the battle begin!"  
Tracey stood there. "Uh... did I have anything to do with that last conversation?"  
Misty plucked the dateless Brock up by the ear and dragged him to their seats in the bleachers, and Tracey followed them.  
Gary's girls went to their seats, which were not too far away from Misty, Brock, and Tracey's seats.  
Ash and Gary went to their sides of the arena. They each stood on platforms that raised themselves up. Ash's platform was red as a ruby, and Gary's was sapphire blue. In front of them, the video screen flashed the score of the two rivals.  
The announcer cleared his throat. "Laaaaaaaadieeeeeeess and gentlemen, the big battle for the title of World's Greatest Pokémon Master between the two lifelong rivals, the challenger, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, and the current champion, Gary Oak, will now begin!!"  
In the bleachers, Gary's lasses let out another one of their corny cheers. "Gary, Gary, he's the best! He's better than all the rest!"  
Tracey was really annoyed with the six women. "Don't they ever shut up about Gary?"  
"I'd agree with you on that," Brock said to the artist. "I'd prefer to see them, rather than hear them! Know what I mean, nudge nudge, say no more?"  
Misty blew a butterfly kiss to Ash. "Don't lose this one, or we'll lose each other!"  
"Togi!" Togepi added.  
Ash, standing on the red left platform with Pikachu, knew that he couldn't let Gary win the battle. If that happened, not only would Ash have a lot of shame upon him, but he would also be losing the girl he loved. Fortunately, Ash had been through a match like this before, in the Orange Islands, at the Trovita Gym, against the Gym Leader Rudy, whos younger sister Mahri wanted Misty for her big sister. And that was just for one of the Orange League Badges!  
The two competitors were being allowed to use up to six Pokémon, as opposed to just using three the last time Ash competed in the Championships at the Indigo Plateau.  
Gary took out the first of his six PokéBalls. "I'm gonna take things down a little with my starter Pokémon." He gave a kiss to the Ball and threw it. Out popped Blastoise, the final evolved form for Squirtle, the Pokémon that Gary started with.  
"Blas-toise," the giant turtle grunted.  
Ash picked up one of his PokéBalls, twisted his Pokémon League Trainer's Cap, and threw the PokéBall. "Charizard, I choose you!"  
Charizard appeared on the battlefield. He roared rather loudly.  
Gary laughed wickedly. "Ha ha ha ha ha! I win this match already! You've chosen a Fire Pokémon! He's no match against my Water Pokémon!"  
But Gary was soon contradicted. Charizard, the most stubborn of Ash's Pokémon, got angry at Gary's badmouthing him. Very angry, indeed. And if you made Ash's Charizard angry, you wouldn't want to be anywhere near him. He fired a mighty Dragon Rage at Blastoise, depleting forty of its two hundred and ninety HP.  
"Aah!" Ash said from his pedestal. "That was a great hit, Charizard! And I didn't even say anything yet."  
Now it was Blastoise's turn to attack.  
"Blastoise, Water Gun!" Gary called.  
The now-at-250-HP Water Pokémon tried to attack the 280-HP Fire/Flying Pokémon with a Water Gun, but Charizard dodged to the left just seconds before the sheer Super Scope-like volume of water could hit him. Then, by Ash's command, Charizard Slashed at his opponent.  
It was a critical hit.  
A hit so criticial that two hundred of Blastoise's HP went down. The mighty Water Pokémon was now at only fifty HP.  
"Amazing, folks!" the announcer shouted. "Charizard has performed an ultra-critical Slash on Blastoise that has taken away one-fifth on its HP! And this is only a one-day event!"  
Blastoise still wasn't going to give up, even though he now had only half a hundred HP.  
"Skull Bash him, Blastoise!" Gary yelled.  
The blue turtle ran up and Skull Bashed into Charizard's chest. It hurt Charizard a lot, but it didn't hurt him enough to take away more than 75 of his HP.  
"We gotta end this round now!" Ash shouted. "Charizard, release a Dragon Rage on him!"  
Charizard prepared for his final attack on Blastoise. He grabbed his mighty opponent, flew up really high, and dove back down to the ground, dealing heavy damage on the enemy. That was a Dragon Rage attack.  
The remaining fifty of Blastoise's HP fell down, and he fainted.  
"Folks, this has been an amazing battle," the announcer said as one of the blue spots on Gary's spot on the scoreboard went black. "And that was just Round 1!"  
"Blastoise, return!" Gary recalled the unconscious turtle. _Hmmmmmm... _the snooty champion thought to himself. _This battle may be a little bit tougher than I thought._  
Round 1 was over, and Ash was already in the lead. He recalled Charizard and prepared to switch his Pokémon for Round 2.  
"You just got lucky, you loseristic twerpbrain!" Gary said. "Even with six Pokémon, I bet you won't survive the rest of the battle." He kissed another PokéBall and threw it. "Nidoqueen, I choose you!"  
The Ball opened, and there stood the mighty Nidoqueen.  
Ash knew that it would be a dilemma against Nidoqueen. He couldn't release Charizard again, and he certainly couldn't send Pikachu to battle it. Nidoqueen was good against Fire and Electric-type Pokémon, and she would kick their butts. Fortunately, Ash knew that Nidoqueens were bad against Ground and Ghost Pokémon. Unfortunately, he didn't have any Ground Pokémon, and his only Ghost Pokémon, Haunter, was staying at the Saffron Gym to entertain Sabrina. But after seeing how Charizard was able to defeat a water Pokémon, a type he was usually lousy against, Ash had another idea.  
"Chikorita, I choose you!" he shouted, and out came Chikorita, ready to kick butt on Nidoqueen.

_No matter what you think you've pulled  
you'll find it's not enough  
No matter who you think you know  
you won't get through  
It's a given all day long  
Someone's faster on the draw  
No matter where you hide  
I'm comin' after you _

_No matter how the race is run  
It always ends the same  
Another room without a view  
awaits downtown  
You can shake me for a while  
Live it up in style  
No matter what you do  
I'm going to take you down _

_Shakedown, breakdown, takedown  
Everybody wants into the crowded line  
Breakdown, takedown  
You're busted  
Let down, you're gone, honey  
Just about the time you think that it's all right  
Breakdown, takedown  
You're busted _

_This is the time when everyone is  
reaching for the top  
This is the place where second-best  
will never do  
It's okay to want to shine  
But when you step across that line  
No matter where you hide,  
I'm comin' after you _

_Shakedown, breakdown, takedown  
Everybody wants into the crowded line  
Breakdown, takedown  
You're busted  
Shakedown, breakdown, honey  
Just about the time you think that it's all right  
Breakdown, takedown  
You're busted _

_Shakedown, breakdown, takedown  
Everybody wants into the crowded line  
Breakdown, takedown  
You're busted  
Shakedown, breakdown, honey  
Just about the time you think that it's all right  
Breakdown, takedown  
You're busted _

_Shakedown, breakdown, takedown  
Everybody wants into the crowded line  
Breakdown, takedown  
You're busted  
Shakedown, breakdown, honey  
Just about the time you think that it's all right  
Breakdown, takedown  
You're busted _

_Shakedown, breakdown, takedown  
Everybody wants into the crowded line  
Breakdown, takedown  
You're busted  
Shakedown, breakdown, honey  
Just about the time you think that it's all right  
Breakdown, takedown  
You're busted _

_Shakedown, breakdown, takedown  
Everybody wants into the crowded line_

It was two hours into the match. Three of Ash's Pokémon had fainted by this time, but Ash was still in first place. Tension was mounting everywhere as Gary's second-to-last Pokémon, Dodrio, fainted. Misty's heart was beating a little faster. Tracey was shaking so much he couldn't draw accurately. Gary's cheerleaders were loosening their grip on their pom-poms. The announcer's hands were getting sweaty.  
"You are a far more worthy adversary than I thought," Gary smirked, recalling Dodrio. "But it doesn't really matter! I started this battle, and I'm going to finish it! And I'm going to finish it with my special Pokémon!" He took out his last remaining PokéBall, gave it a few kisses, and tossed it into the arena.  
The PokéBall opened up and revealed Gary's favorite Pokémon. Umbreon. The Dark evolved form of Eevee.  
"That brat has just sent out an Umbreon!" James stated the obvious from the bleachers.  
"Dat's da form Eevee can evolve into if tamed during night!" Meowth explained.  
"Seems rather fitting for that kid if you ask me!" Jessie commented.  
"_WAAAAAB! Wobba!_" Wobbuffet added, popping out of his PokéBall. Jessie immediately recalled him.  
"I don't think I want to know how you got that," Cassidy butt in, "nor do I think I care."  
"What _I_ want to know is how you and Bust were able to catch a Drowzee, a Primeape, a Hitmontop, and a Houndour when you spent most of your time in jail," Mondo requested to her.  
"Urrr!" Butch glowered. "Even when we're good guys you get my name wrong! It's Butch! Not Botch, Buzz, or Bust!"  
Ash wasn't the least bit worried about losing to Gary's Umbreon. But then...  
"Don't forget, twerp," Gary taunted, "this is the same Eevee that whooped butt on Wimpychu last time I battled you!"  
"'Wimpychu'?" Ash repeated.  
"'Wimpychu'?" Meowth got mad. "Hey! Dat Pikachu was woithy of bein' captured by Team Rocket! Don't eva call it a wimp, ya wimpy brat! And don't eva call Ashy-boy a twoip! It's bad enough you ignore our motto, but now you steal our insults?! I oughta moida youse!" The catlike Pokémon wanted to get out of his seat, go down into the arena, and perform a thousand Fury Swipes on Gary. He shook uncontrollably while Mondo restrained him.  
"Wimpychu!" Gary shouted again. "Pikacreampuff! Pikaloser! You'll think twice before messing with the great Gary Oak!"  
Then Pikachu got angry. He had let insults from Gary bounce off of him before. Now, it was personal.  
"Pika-cha!" Pikachu raised his arms and swung them in a determined fashion.  
"You want to fight?" Ash asked his prized rodent. "All right. Pikachu, GO!"  
Pikachu jumped down from the red pedestal and onto the stadium grounds. He was determined to defeat Umbreon, even though it had 10 more points of Attack Power, 130 more Hit Points, and three times more Defense than him.  
"Well well well," Gary said mockingly. "Even after the butt-kicking it got before, the little yellow Pika-puff wants to take him down! Umbreon, Tackle him!"  
Umbreon tried to tackle the yellow mouse but missed.  
"Pikachu, Tail Whip!" Ash shouted.  
Pikachu whipped its tail on Umbreon. The fox's Defense fell down greatly. In fact, the fox's Defense broke in half. Now it only had a hundred and twenty points of defense.  
Gary scowled in an angry fashion, then restrained himself. "So what if my Pokemon's Defense has been cut in half? It's still three times the Defense power of your Pokemon's defense... cut in half! Umbreon, confuse him!"  
Pikachu was hit by a Confuse Ray sent by Umbreon. Senseless, he began attacking himself.  
"Aah! Oh no!" Ash shouted.  
When Pikachu regained his senses, he had now reduced his HP by 20.  
But then, when he had done that, Umbreon unleashed another Confuse Ray on him! Again, Pikachu began to attack himself and drain his HP.  
"Hey!" Ash shouted at Gary. "That's cheating! You can't use the same attack multiple times in one turn!"  
"Don't tell me what to do!" Gary argued. "I'm the Pokémon League Champion here!"  
Soon, Pikachu now only had eighty-five HP - half of what he had started with!  
"Looks like this match is in the bag!" Gary snickered. "Just a few more attacks like this, and the Diamond Badge and your scrawny girlfriend will be mine!"  
Gary's sentence echoed in Ash's mind. Ash turned his head and focused his eyes on Misty. She was sitting there in the bleachers, right between Brock and Tracey, with Togepi on her lap, waving a flag. A flag with Ash's picture on it. Everything about Misty mattered to Ash. Her aquamarine eyes. Her glowing fiery orange hair. Her heart-shaped mouth. Her slender arms. Her forever-growing legs. Her thin stomach. Her soft smooth skin. And especially her lips, red as the fur of a Flareon.  
Ash turned his head around and looked at Pikachu. Then at Gary. Ash was now more angry than Gary had ever made him in their previous encounters.  
_This victory is for you, Misty..._ Ash said to himself. He shouted a command to Pikachu. "Pikachu, defend yourself!"  
Heeding his trainer's command, Pikachu summoned a Reflect sheild. Instantly, the next blast of Umbreon's Confuse Ray failed to attack!  
"Oh my god!" Gary shouted. "I don't believe it! The loser's Pikachu is actually fighting back!"  
Ash screamed out a classic line. "**PIKACHU, THUNDERSHOCK! ****_NOW!!_**"  
Pikachu got in front of Umbreon, and prepared.  
"_PIIIIIIIII..._"  
"Oops, I'm in trouble," Gary murmured.  
"_...KAA..._"  
Umbreon tried to back away, but failed.  
"_..._**_CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!_**"  
A mighty jolt of a Thunder Shock shot out from Pikachu's rosy cheeks and hit Umbreon dead on. Now it was paralyzed and couldn't attack.  
"Well, this doesn't look so bad," Gary sighed of relief.  
But it wasn't over just yet. With Umbreon paralyzed and three-fourths of its HP gone, Gary had no choice but to skip his turn.  
"We've almost got 'im, Pikachu!" Ash shouted. "Now let's finish him! **_THUNDERBOLT!!!!_**"  
"**_PIKA!_**" As Pikachu squealed, he got up on top of Umbreon. A cloud of thunder appeared in the sky above him. In a matter of milliseconds, a Thunderbolt rained down from the sky above, hitting Pikachu... and taking Umbreon with him!  
When the smoke of the battle cleared, everyone looked over their shoulders and saw exactly what they thought they were seeing. The mighty Umbreon had fainted, and Pikachu stood there, licking his fur.  
"Pika!" he chirped.  
The announcer cleared his throat. "And so, ladies and gentlemen, the winner, and new Pokémon Master, is the challenger, Ash Ketchum from the town of Pallet! Congratulations, Ash!"  
The whole audience cheered and applauded so hard the whole stadium rocked.  
"HOORAY!" Misty cheered, stretching her arms up.  
Togepi did a little dance of joy. _Yay for daddy!_ it thought.  
But of course, not everyone was overjoyed with the outcome of the battle. "I can't believe... that Gary lost... _AGAIN!!_" one of the cheerleaders burst into tears, and the other cheerleaders cried along with her.  
Gary got down on his knees. "NO! This can't be! You beat my best! After all that work to become League champ, my reign is over already?! It's not fair! Why?" he moaned, his platform elevating down. "Why did I lose? I never made any mistakes raising my Pokémon!"  
The platforms finished their descent, and the loser walked up to the winner.  
"Darn it!" Gary swore. "You're the new Pokémon League champ... although I don't like to admit it."  
Just then, a familiar voice came from the left corridor of the arena. It called out for Ash.  
"Professor?" Ash responded.  
"Grandpa?" Gary responded, in unison.  
Professor Samuel Oak ran into the room. "So, you won!" he said to Ash. "Congratulations! You're the new Pokémon League Champion! You've grown up so much since you first left with Pikachu on your tenth birthday! Ash, you have come of age!"  
"Thanks, Professor," Ash shook his hand.  
The Professor then turned to look at Gary. "Gary! I'm disappointed!" he admonished his ashamed grandson. "I came when I heard that you had beaten the Elite Four! But when I got here, you had already lost! Do you understand why you lost? You have forgotten to treat your Pokémon with trust and love. Without them, you will never become a champ again!" He then faced Ash once more and continued, "Ash, you understand that your victory wasn't just your own doing. The bond you share with your Pokemon is marvelous! Come with me!"  
Ash followed the Professor into a room behind the blue platform.  
Gary watched jealously as they walked inside. He took deep angry breaths, then stopped. "I suppose this battle has taught me something," he said to himself, taking off his hippie necklace. "All these years, I thought I was the superior trainer, and that he was a loser. But now I learn that Ash wasn't the loser; _I_ was."

Professor Oak cleared his throat for this important moment. "Er-hem! This floor is the Pokémon Hall of Fame! Pokémon League champions are honored for their exhibits here! Their Pokémon are recorded, too! You and Pikachu have endeavored hard to become the new League champion! Congratulations, Ash! You, Pikachu, and all your Pokemon are Hall of Famers!"  
As the Professor was examining Ash's Pokemon (he was especially impressed with Pikachu), Ash's friends all came into the room.  
"Oh Ash! My sweet Ash!" Misty swooned. She threw her arms around her boyfriend, the new Pokemon Master, and began kissing his face many, many times, leaving stains of her light pink lipstick everywhere her lips went. "When Gary's Umbreon started confusing Pikachu, I was afraid I'd have to spend the rest of my life cheering for that stuck-up chia pet!" she said between kisses. "But our love has deeply strengthened and created a permanent bond for the rest of our lives, my hero!"  
"Thanks, Misty," Ash said, the prints of Misty's lips on his face more visible than his flesh. "I couldn't have done it without you."

_The winner takes all..   
It's the thrill of one more kill...   
The last one to fall...   
Will never sacrifice their will... _

_Don't ever look back...   
On the wind closing in...   
The only attack...   
Were their wings on the wind...   
Oh the daydream begins... _

_And it's sweet, sweet, sweet victory, yeah...   
And it's ours for the taking...   
It's ours for the fight... _

_And it's sweet, sweet, sweet victory..YEAH!!...   
And the world is ours to follooooooooooooooowah!!... _

_Sweet, sweet, sweet victory..._

Later that day, the six ex-members of Team Rocket were walking off into the sunset, following the parade that was on their way to Pallet Town. A party was being held in Ash's honor back at his house in Pallet Town. They were commentating on the match they had just watched.  
"I can now see what was so special about Pikachu that Giovanni was dying to have it before he even created the MechaMew2," said James.  
Jessie nodded in agreement. "Yes, any Pokémon that can beat one far more powerful than itself..."  
"...definitely exceeds its evolutionary level!" Meowth finished the sentence.  
"If you ask me," Cassidy interrupted, "if the Boss's MechaMew2 was only lacking Thundershock and Thunderbolt, why did he have to send you after that kid's Pikachu? A Jolteon possesses a Thundershock, and an Elekid can execute a Thunderbolt."  
"Yeah, but Pikachu is da only known Pokémon dat has both of dose attacks!" Meowth replied.  
"What about its evolved form, Raichu?" Butch asked. "Raichu has Thundershock and Thunderbolt, too! You know, you could've stolen the Raichu from that Gym Leader in Vermillion City."  
"Well, we could've done that too," James considered. "Oh man! Why didn't we think of that before?"  
"Ah!" Butch smirked. "You two never could think of an obvious solution!"  
"But Raichus are far too powerful to be captured!" Meowth answered. "If we tried to steal a Raichu, we woulda had a blast-off more painful dan da ones we got from Pikachu!"  
"Will you guys cut that out?" Mondo asked. "There's a big buffet in the Pallet Party, so let's go!"  
Wobbuffet's PokéBall opened up and released him again. "_Waaaaab!_" he shouted.  
"He didn't call for you, you blue twit!" Jessie recalled him again.  
"Hold on!" James stopped them. "We just spent this last month cheering the good guys!"  
"Yeah," Meowth said, "but we shouldn't feel bad about it. After all, Giovanni fired us all, and he's in jail now. We can all get back t'leadin' normal lives now!"  
Jessie, James, Butch, Cassidy, and Mondo all nodded in agreement.  
"Now let's go grab dat buffet dat we never could get unda Giovanni's rule!"  
As the six of them started running after the crowd of people in front of them, Wobbuffet's PokéBall released him again. Looking ahead, the little blue idiotic Pokémon saw his trainer running off with her friends, and immediately followed, yelling in his own language. What he obviously meant to say was "_Wait for me! I wanna party too!_"

* * *

**Epilogue  
** It had been ten years ever since Ash and Pikachu first set out on their journey. A lot of things had happened in the years that followed Ash's victory over Gary in the Pokemon League.  
Giovanni was still in prison, but the Rocket Executives rose to power and taken control of Team Rocket. Hold on, I already mentioned that. Well, there was still Team Aqua and Team Magma to worry about. But Team Rocket was able to shut down the operations by those two amateur teams.  
Gary, having lost at the Pokémon League once again, took over the job of the Gym Leader of Viridian City. Despite having been such a jerk, he became friends with Ash again. He also found love with a trainer named Mileena Yellow.  
Brock married Suzie, the Pokemon Breeder who had lent him her Vulpix. After all, she was the only girl who didn't trash him like the other girls did.  
Tracey, still without a wife, stayed Professor Oak's lab assistant. I don't know if he found his own girl or not.  
Gary's older sister, May Oak, became a Pokémon groomer. She worked every day from 3:00 to 4:00 PM.  
Jessie and James got married and had a daughter, whom they named Miya, after Jessie's mother. Meowth had stayed with them the whole time. Mondo had also been there to help them with their parenthood, although he was rather jealous that Jessie, his secret crush, was already married.  
Butch and Cassidy realized that there was more to love power than loving power. They were last seen heading off towards Purity Canyon. No one knows what happened to them. They probably eloped.  
Ash and Misty spent their adolescent years dating and got married when they were old enough. Needless to say, almost everyone mentioned above was invited. (Except Giovanni, of course.) They had two kids who are currently unnamed at the moment.  
And I, the narrator, was finally able to retire in peace after spending five years of my life narrating this whole goddang series!!!! So long, Pokémon characters!! The next time you hear me, I'm going to be on the vacation I've been waiting 300 episodes for!

* * *

So there you have it! This story's finally done! Now I can get to work on my other fanfics!


End file.
